By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation's forensic science lab in Great Bend serves 70 counties in western Kansas. Yet half that lab is without air conditioning. Thursday afternoon, new KBI Director Tony Mattivi and several state legislators toured the lab ahead of a project to fix the air conditioning problem. Mattivi thanked the legislators for their assistance.
"The budget bill that was recently passed also allowed for an appropriation in the amount of $910,000 of the American Rescue Plan Act - what we call ARPA - 910,000 ARPA dollars," he said, "to replace the HVAC system right here on one side of this facility in Great Bend, and to finish a laboratory renovation project we've been working on here at the KBI for several years."
The bill also increased the KBI's rehabilitation and repair budget from $100,000 to $300,000 annually, which will improve the organization's ability to maintain its facilities. Increased funding will also go toward the KBI's Surge Initiative, which aims at making strides in the fight against violent crime, crimes against children, and drug trafficking, especially in regard to fentanyl.
Eric Moore, a latent print forensic scientist and KBI Crime Scene Response Team member, headed a 2019 project for improvements to the south side of the first floor at the lab. The project included moving three drug chemistry instruments into a single, cooled room. KBI Lab Director T.L. Price said those instruments cost between $100,000 to $180,000.
"We don't want to replace them until they are actually end of life," Price said. "Unfortunately, sometimes, because of our inability to have the right space, we have burnt some instruments up over the years. It happens."
Phase two of the project will include the new HVAC system on the north side of the first floor. Moore said his latent print lab was 88 degrees Thursday afternoon, and he usually schedules his day around prioritizing the lab in the cooler mornings. Currently, there are two labs on the floor, with four drug chemistry scientists using a smaller lab. The renovation includes a swap with the latent print scientists to give the chemists approximately 400 extra square feet.
Price said doing the project in two phases has been a happy accident, allowing local scientists to stay at home instead of traveling to other KBI labs in Kansas City or Pittsburg. Along with their lab duties, the scientists receive some 4,000 court subpoenas each year.
"Some of our scientists have more subpoenas on their calendar than they actually have work days," Price said. "They have several each day, and they're listed No. 1, 2, 3, 4. We let those counties know, if Lyon County and Clay County both don't need me that day, then you can have me."
The KBI office in Great Bend houses 28 employees, including 15 investigators that serve 46 western Kansas counties. Approximately 25 percent of all evidence submitted to the KBI passes through the Great Bend office.